Active listening is a communication technique originally introduced back in the late 1950s. It has since been adopted across business, education, and even medicine. It is a helpful strategy medical providers can utilize to shorten incoming patient phone calls.
Incoming calls shouldn’t be shortened just for the sake of doing so. Indeed, agents should spend as much time as necessary on the phone to meet a caller’s needs. Yet medical calls can go a lot longer than they need to because of a lack of effective communication between the two parties. This ineffective communication is what active listening is designed to address.
A Brief Explanation of Active Listening
Before discussing how active listening can help shorten patient phone calls, a brief explanation of what it is seems appropriate. For the record, active listening is built into our medical answering service. We firmly believe in it.
Active listening is the practice of consciously and intentionally listening to what another person has to say – and how they say it as well – before offering any kind of response. Its underlying goals include showing attentiveness and intentionally trying to understand exactly what the other person is conveying.
An active listener pays close attention to:
- The words the speaker chooses
- The speaker’s tone of voice
- Any changes in the speaker’s emotions
- Any verbal or nonverbal cues that seem appropriate
In a medical call scenario, an agent wouldn’t have the advantage of physically seeing a caller’s body language. So any nonverbal cues associated with that sort of thing are off the table. But an agent can listen to the tone of voice, for example, to identify whether and not the caller seems anxious, angry, stressed out, etc.
How It Helps With Medical Calls
Specifically where medical calls are concerned, active listening can be a tremendous help. First and foremost, active listening makes it possible for an agent to absorb all the details before trying to respond. If adequate details aren’t being offered, active listening at least informs an agent about follow-up questions she needs to ask.
Active listening tells the caller that the agent she is speaking with is attentive. It tells the caller that the agent is genuinely concerned, wants to address her needs in the best way, and wants to fully understand what is going on. All these things combine to give the caller confidence and a sense of security.
Active listening also:
- Reduces Misunderstandings – Phone calls are an open invitation to misunderstandings when two parties don’t communicate effectively. Active listening reduces that risk by encouraging an agent to pay close attention.
- Reduces Questions – Active listening can reduce the total number of questions an agent has to ask in order to get all the details. It encourages an agent to listen to the ‘whole story’ before asking anything.
- Encourages Cooperation – A patient who feels confident and at ease with an agent is more likely to be fully cooperative in the discussion. That can lead to quicker resolution.
If we were to boil it down to its core components, active listening is really about intentionally handling calls in such a way as to understand a patient’s needs rather than jumping to conclusions or offering trite responses. It is something every medical answering service should practice.
Active listening is built into Apello medical answering services. If you would like to know more about how our services and fully trained team members can enhance your practice or clinic, please reach out to us at your earliest convenience. We are here to help medical providers increase patient satisfaction and health with better phone communication.
